Month in Review, Attempt #2 -- February

The month of February started off with a bang for our family.  We made a short road trip to central Arizona, which is, IMHO, the most beautiful part of Arizona, unless you prefer rocks and desolation.  We got some  good preaching and some good fellowship, and brought home the stomach flu and some bad colds.  But it was worth it.   I had to laugh when I saw the sign announcing the Cococino National Forest.  It's not what most people think of when they see the word "forest"!  But I do love the saguaros.

Elisabeth played some beautiful music on her neglected violin, which was a thrill to my soul.  Go Elisabeth!  Keep it up!

My very culinarily challenged child found a way to cut a banana into her corn flakes. There's more than one way to slice a banana!

Our Virginia grandparents drove all the way to rainy Arizona to see us, and we had such a nice time.  When the sky cleared up, all of the kids and grandparents, plus half of the parents, hiked up to a mine shaft.  Since our van only seats seven, one of us had to stay behind.  I'd have enjoyed the walk, but I was stuck all alone in a quiet, empty house.  Poor me.    These beams and boards are here to prevent clumsy miners and curious children from falling into this deep, deep hole in the ground.  It does not , however, prevent worried grandparents from having heart attacks when the curious grandchildren get too close to the edge. I suspect at one time there might also have been a winch attached, to pull up buckets of GOLD.  These things are scattered all over the desert, and to me they seem like the perfect place to toss broken TV's, used car oil, garbage, evidence, or dead bodies.  Who knows WHAT'S in there? I don't want to find out.

Nana and Papa brought stepping stone kits for each of the kids to make.  Amy had the great idea that all of the grandkids should make one for Nana's garden. Good idea, Amy.  We'll do that.... someday.

We always enjoy time at the park. Sometimes we concentrate on the playground equipment, sometimes on the swings, and sometimes on the things growing in and around the park.

Amy crafted her head off.

Everyone but poor ol' me, all alone in the house for a second time in a week went for a water-hunting hike in Grapevine Canyon.  Once upon a time, five years ago, there was actually running water here, I suppose from an underground spring.  The hunters didn't find running water, only standing water.  The boulders make this a favorite hiking and climbing place.  I have posted photos previously of the  petroglyphs ("Indian graffiti") on the rocks here.

Alison took on the February Madness challenge and is, at this moment, whacking away at her last 500 words out of 30,000 words for the month!  Whoohoo!  She is going to make it!!  Good job, Alie!! She has been stuck in this position for much of the month of February:

In other news, the nice camera that Amy got for her birthday last month conked out, so I called Canon to see what we could do about it.  Mind you, this is a used camera, mfg in 2004, and we didn't buy it.  Canon has great customer service!  They are going to repair it free or replace it, and pay the shipping both ways.  I like that kind of deal! Amy is very excited to get her camera back, and so am I, so that next month we will have more photos to choose from for the March Month in Review!

And, speaking of great deals, we girls all went to Target after Valentine's Day and made a big investment in female necessities, you know, Snickers, Dove, Hershey Kisses.  That stuff. Everything was 75% off, which meant it was like, 79¢ a bag for the good stuff!  I was so excited.  And then, and this was the most exciting thing that has happened to me in a long time, I got ten bags of Ghirardelli chocolate chips for only 69¢ a bag, because they were stocked on the clearance shelf by accident! (I should have grabbed everything they had!)  We should be good for at least two weeks now...

We had a great blessing this month.  In spite of things being tighter around here, my husband increased our missions giving, and the Lord has really been paying us back.  You can't out-give God, and he keeps proving that to us, though we know it already.  Our two older girls need braces, and our orthodontist is going to do both mouths for only the cost of the lab work.  This is a tremendous discount!!!  God is so good to us.  He also blessed us with a free plumbing job this month and some nice cash anniversary gifts.  The Bible calls giving to the Lord beyond the tithe an "experiment", and it keeps turning out better for us than we could hope.  I wonder if this kind of experiment lends itself to the scientific method??

Monocogman and I had a nice anniversary dinner out last night, and a hot date to Wal*Mart for buttons and a few groceries.  Did you see the sweet anniversary post he wrote on his blog yesterday?  It made me cry.  Yeah, I'm a diamond in the rough, all right. Sometimes I not even that good.  At least a lump of coal is good for something -- you can burn it.  (Am I the only one who feels that way?  Probably not. Probably most of the female population feels that way at times. ) But Monocogman says my worth to him is far above rubies.  That's another reason I love him -- he's crazy.


PS.  I have one more thing to add to that list:  #23. He prays. On any given morning I can find him on his knees, in the dark, praying for me and a plethora of other people and things.  That one thing, more than all the other things he does for us, means the most to me!

O taste and see that the LORD is good:
blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
 Psalm 34:8